Editorial
| Daily
I Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wiegert, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
Cuts won’t help
Lid would cause unsolvable problems
Although a proposed 2 percent lid on state and local
government spending increases has not even been
voted on, it already has claimed some casualties.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agri
culture and Natural Resources has placed a freeze on hir
; ing and other expenditures pending the outcome of the
Nov. 6 vote on the lid.
The ballot initiative proposes limiting annual govern
ment spending increases to 2 percent -- about 3 percent
less than the rate of inflation.
Because the lid appears to be retroactive - dating back
to the current fiscal year -- university departments and
other government entities may have to come up with some
: quick spending cuts if the proposal passes.
Planning ahead generally makes sense.
But in this case, it represents a panic move. The lid
hasn’t even passed yet.
Elton Aberle, head of the animal science department,
I said he thought the freeze was the proper step to take:
“If the lid doesn’t go into effect, we’ve lost a little bit
1 of time and that’s all we’ve lost.”
Aberle said the department couldn’t extend offers for
I two openings in its faculty. If the lid failed at the ballot
box, those offers would be made and it would be business
as usual for the department. If it passed, though, the de
^ partment wouldn’t be able to offer several courses in
spring because of the faculty shortage, Aberle said.
Unfortunately, time and a few courses aren’t all that
would be lost.
Aberle said the hiring freeze caused the department to
cut some student positions that had been filled before
~ Sept. 1.
Alan Moeller, assistant vice chancellor of 1ANR, esti
mated the number of students affected at fewer than 50.
But those students deserve to keep their jobs. They
| shouldn’t be punished for a shortsighted proposal that
sounds attractive until it is put on paper.
1ANR Vice Chancellor Irv Omtvedt said factors other
2 than the threat of the lid contributed to the hiring freeze.
| Many Nebraska counties, with which the institute has
| partnerships, have reached budget limits. Federal money
to the institute also is threatened, he said.
Still, coming when it does, the hiring freeze sends the
wrong message to Nebraska voters. It suggests that UNL
could cope with the effects of the lid by planning in
advance and by making careful cuts.
That obviously wouldn’t be enough. NU officials
1 already have estimated that the equivalent of one of
| UNL’s larger colleges would have to be cut each year if
| the lid passed. The budget for the second half of the
current Fiscal year would have to be chopped by 18
percent because of the retroactive nature of the lid, those
2 officials estimate.
IANR officials said the hiring freeze would give the in
stitute greater flexibility if the 2 percent lid passed in
November. ,
But no amount of flexibility or careful planning would
be enough to offset the long-term effects of the lid.
-• Krk Pfanner
for the Daily Nebraskan
Gays should not he condemned
Bri Frimodt, I truly believe that
you need to stop and examine a sub
ject before you use your pen to write
* about and denounce a group and their
actions. Your letter “Think before
spouting pro-homosexual words” (DN,
Sept. 17) shows that you have no
comprehension of this issue.
Homophobia, according to Web
ster’s Dictionary is the “hatred or
fear of homosexuals or homosexual
ity.” You stated in your letter, “I’m
certainly not afraid of gays.”
Afraid or not, you certainly show
ill will towards them and their ac
tions. Who are you to decide what is
„ natural or right?
The First Amendment assures us
that we have the freedom of expres
sion. This amendment docs not deny
people that freedom on the basis of
race, gender or sexual preference.
Just because someone acts in an
alternative way to what you consider
conventional does not mean he or she
should be condemned.
If you don’t approve of being called
a homophobic (as they say, if the shoe
fits ...) then you need to open your
eyes and your mind to this issue, and
learn to better understand it. Because
to me, it seems that thus far you have
no perception, just delusion of homo
sexuals and homosexuality.
Cindy Hope
sophomore
English
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Deciding fates of the notorious
Woody, Aretha, Robert resolve afterlives of politicians on judgment day
We’re sitting at the gates of
heaven. Some of the world’s
greatest self-proclaimed
judges -- Aretha Franklin, Woody
Allen, Robert Plant and 1 -- are trying
to decide the afterlife of some notori
ous politicians.
After Iraq and the United States
finished blowing the world to bits, we
have come together to judge at the
only place still standing - Lincoln’s
Tam O’ Shantcr Lounge and
Steakhousc.
The gavel sounded.
And that was it. Adolf Hitler was
released into the abyss, shouting “I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean to do it, dewit,
dewit, dewit..
“I don’t know, you guys, he seemed
sorry,’’ I said, watching the figure
become smaller and smaller and fi
nally disappear into the big, dark hole.
“Shut up, Donovan -- it was Hiller,
for God’s sake.”
Allen never had much sympathy
for the remorseful.
“But...”
“No buls, Donovan. Besides, you’re
outnumbered. Right, guys?
“Yes, yes, yes,” they muttered.
We ushered in our next candidate.
“Next?”
“My name is Richard M....”
“We’ll call him Dick. Do you
mind if we call you Dick?”
He shook his head, smiling.
“Thai’s quite all right.”
1 leaned over to Aretha.
“This is not the Nixon we heard
about in ‘All the President’s Men.’ I
loved that movie.”
“Let’s not start basing our opin
ions on a movie. Let’s get the facts,
just the facts. Besides, you thought
‘Fast Times at Ridgcmont High’ was
the biographical story of Sean Penn’s
youth.”
Plant insisted that we get on with
the interrogation.
“Now, now, Dick, answer hon
estly and thoughtfully. Are you sorry
about the Watergate scandal because
it was sneaky and unethical? Or, arc
you sorry about the Watergate scan
dal because you got caught?
“I am not a crook.”
Plant was ruthless. “Well, this ‘I’m
not a criminal’ bit may have con
vinced President Ford, but it doesn’t
work for me.”
“What do you guys think?”
The gavel went down again, just
like a bad performance being gonged
Lisa
Donovan
on the “Gong Show.”
“But I’m not a criminal, nal, nal,
nal, nal.”
“Next?”
“State your name.”
“Joe Bowman.”
I began the formalities this time.
“From your records here, we see
that you were greatly involved in
political and social issues while in
college, but lacked ethics.
“Let’s sec here, you were involved
in some pre-election, under-the-table
agreement to support a presidential
candidate if he would fire the Asso
ciation of Students of the University
of Nebraska’s director of develop
ment.
“Do you have anything to say for
yourself?”
He merely handed a letter to the
council of judges.
“Says here that he was sorry he
manipulated the election back in 1990.
“I don’t know about the rest of
you, but I’ve heard enough sorrics.”
Plant added, “You, Mr. Bowman,
tried to qualify your statement in the
form of an apology. How could you
say in one sentence that the deal was
made in the best intcresLs of the uni
versity, and in another statement, say
you knew the deal was an under
handed plot by the presidential candi
date to acquire support?”
“And all of this in the name of the
STAND parly. Ho\ Jo you feel know
ing that you took advantage of your
party members.”
There was a deafening silence and
the gavel went down.
“Next?”
“State your name.”
“Phil Gosch.”
Aretha began, “Mr. Gosch, you
did some wonderful things as a young
man -- your resume shows that among
them you were a capable student
government president.”
I interrupted.
“Except one thing. You didn't step
down when your deal with Bowman
was protested.
“Phil, you made a deal. Then your
supporters rallied around you. And
then you were sitting pretty.”
Gosch was silent. Almost as silent
as when a UNL student stood up at a
Senate meeting and asked him to resign
once the scandal came out into the
open.
“Your record speaks for itself --
you wanted to affect a lot of change as
student regent and student president
One of your most notable accom
plishments was taking a stand against
the NU Foundation’s investments in
South Africa. Unfortunately, this and
other efforts were dwarfed by the
deal.”
Aretha pointed out that student
government really didn’t have a lot of
options.
I conceded.
‘ 'The only way to get rid of Gosch
would be his resignation or a recall
election. Gosch liked power too much
to give it up
* ‘And a recall election would have
required a signed petition by 33 per
cent of the student body to require the
Electoral Commission to schedule and
conduct a special election.
“Considering only 16 percent
students voted in the March 1990
election, a recall would be pretty close
to impossible.”
We all looked at each other.
“The students are no better.”
The gavel went down.
Donovan is a senior nem-editorial major, th*
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